The Beatles Story and Grasmere Gingerbread

Anyone have a huge Beatles fan in your family? That would be my adorable husband in ours. I'm pretty sure he has all of their music and knows all of their songs. Our morning in Liverpool we toured "The Beatles Story." It has been an exhibition here since 1990, and they were celebrating their 25 year anniversary. Zach definitely enjoyed this exhibition. We were the last ones to get on the bus! 

After the exhibition, our group drove to Grasmere, England, home to the Grasmere Gingerbread invented in 1854 by Sarah Nelson. Our tour guide told us that the secret recipe is locked in a bank vault. This beautiful village is nestled in the Lake District and is an absolutely breathtaking place to visit. 

William Wordsworth, a British poet, was once entertained by Sarah Nelson's family for tea. He died in 1850 and is buried there in Grasmere at St. Oswald's Church.

From Grasmere, England, we headed to Gretna Green, Scotland, just a few miles from the English boarder. In the middle of the 18th century, many young people fled to Gretna Green to marry since the laws in England had put an age restriction on marriage. You had to be 21 years of age to marry without your parents' consent. The Scottish law was different in that you could marry immediately by declaration with two witnesses testifying that you were at least 16 years of age. The first place the couples came upon when crossing the Scottish boarder was the Blacksmith's Shop. There the Blacksmith joined the couple together in marriage over the pounding of the anvil for just a few guineas. Today, many couples from around the world still travel to be married there in the Blacksmith Shop. 

Upon leaving Gretna Green, we then drove almost 2 hours to get to our hotel in Glasgow. We had dinner at the hotel and retired for the evening. We still had hundreds of miles to cover, and needed every hour of sleep we could get!